A new view of insanity : in which is set forth the present mismanagement of public and private madhouses, all the late and existing defects of New Bethlem : with some suggestions towards a new remedy for that almost-universal disorder of the human race / by Richard Carlile.

  • Carlile, Richard, 1790-1843.
Date:
1831
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A new view of insanity : in which is set forth the present mismanagement of public and private madhouses, all the late and existing defects of New Bethlem : with some suggestions towards a new remedy for that almost-universal disorder of the human race / by Richard Carlile. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by University of Bristol Library. The original may be consulted at University of Bristol Library.

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    that is said about human soul in the religious world. The varied state of mind, the liabilities to insanity or madness, are so many irresistible arguments against the doctrines of religion.* IMPORTANT QUESTION. If a strict definition of insanity would include the whole human race,—if man be the only irrational animal, in what does the test of animal sanity lie ? ANSWER, WITH REFLECTIONS. A strict definition of insanity would include the whole human race; for, however humiliating may be the statement, it is not less true, that, instead of being the only rational animal, as some falsely and arrogantly assume, man- is the only irrational animal, and what is again singularly anomalous, in which the practice or principle is at variance with the theory, he owes his irrationality to his past so- ciality or erroneous efforts at civilization. Which way intellect may march, in future, it is difficult to say; but it has been marching in the wrong road hitherto, and has not approached the goal of human happiness. So far, the aggregate intellect of the world has been rather insane than sane. In any other animal than man, we cannot perceive an idea, but it has a close relation to the thing con- sidered. If we except the pugnacious character, we see not an irrational act in other animals; but every act accords with the nature and wants of the * In this, as in all my other writings and publications, I aim at the increase of the amount of human sanity, the decrease of the amount of human misery. The subject of religion is inseparably allied to insanity, and is not offensively intruded; nor is this pam- phlet written for the purpose of attacking it, as is my common practice in other publications: yet how ridiculous is the idea of a chaplain to a lunatic asylum ! Again, chaplains to regiments of soldiers, and to men-of-war, to pray and fight! Dr. Spurzheim scouts the idea of preaching sermons to insane persons, who are religiously exciteable.